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Tom Rolland
Background * Candidate for PA House in 2006, 194th * http://www.voterolland.com/ * Republican challenger Insights Tom Rolland's Agenda for Renewal 1 Rebuild Pennsylvania's schools through educational choice and public school competition. 2 Return to a citizen legislature by banning illegal pay raises and prohibiting lobbyists' gifts to lawmakers. 3 Enforce the death penalty for convicted murderers, while broadening police powers. 4 Cut taxes for homeowners and job creators to revive Pennsylvania's economy. Details Statement from October, 2006 http://www.philly.com/mld/dailynews/news/opinion/15658096.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp Pa.'s very own insurgency by Tom Rolland FOR DECADES, the job security of Pennsylvania's 253 legislators was nearly automatic. Those of us courageous, or foolish, enough to try to scale the towering walls of Harrisburg's incumbency protection program faced a 1 percent chance of winning, and at best, dismissive glances from the check-writers and special-interest insiders. Capitol turnover typically only comes as the result of voluntary retirement or an occasional front page 6 o'clock news political scandal. Pennsylvania lawmakers have become experts at gaming the system. As in few other states, representatives and senators here have made staying elected an almost-certain science. Political campaigns come to our homes disguised as newsletters, public-service announcements, special-topic informational meetings, phone surveys and a host of other taxpayer-funded outreach programs that have given incumbents a public-relations machine that rivals Madison Avenue. Each lawmaker has unlimited cash on hand to contact voters based on his or her vulnerability in the next election cycle. If Republican or Democratic leaders determine a member is "in trouble," new staff members, state grants and even more helpful "informational" mail flows in. But on May 16, the once-impenetrable fortress came tumbling down with the ballot-box defeats of scores of state senators and state representatives. By some estimates, 60 new faces could take the oath of office in January, a turnover unrivaled in recent history. The total impact of this voter revolt is yet unseen, but one thing is clear - voters have cracked the code. We've solved the puzzle that has sent hundreds of well-intentioned candidates to certain defeat on Election Day. Instead of trying to go dollar-for-dollar with an incumbent's war chest and paid media arsenal, we challengers are taking our campaigns directly to the people. To any one willing to listen. And this year, they are. People are listening because an illegal pay raise confirmed what they believed to be true about a broken political system. More than the taxpayer-funded luxury cars, restaurant tabs, lifetime health care or extravagant junkets, the people see Harrisburg politicians tuned out to the problems of ordinary Pennsylvanians. IN MY OWN legislative district, represented for 14 years by Rep. Kathy Manderino, rampant crime, crumbling schools and high property taxes have become seemingly unsolvable plagues on our neighborhoods. While voting for an illegal pay raise may have made her life somewhat uncomfortable these past few months, her votes to defend the status quo have caused untold harm to the families of this district. I have written to Rep. Manderino to ask for a single, one-hour, public debate of the issues moderated by a journalist from this or any other newspaper or the League of Women voters. I urge her to accept this challenge in the spirit of May 16. Unlike the numerous elections in which she went unchallenged and her re-election virtually unnoticed, voters want Rep. Manderino and every incumbent running for re-election to earn trust on their terms, not the ones devised by the lawmakers themselves. This year, the people, not the politicians are in the driver's seat. Rolland